Smart Alyk
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smartalyk.bsky.social
Smart Alyk
@smartalyk.bsky.social
In my Protist Era 🦠

New artist painting a new species daily. Watch the art evolve as I paint earth's complete evolutionary history over 40 years

instagram.com/smart.alyk
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STAGE COMPLETE, NEW ERA! 🦠🎉

Next up is Protists!

Archaea don't get near enough attention for how interesting they truly are. I can't wait to see what future research uncovers, especially the work being done with Asgard archaea.

#sciart #watercolor #archaea #protist #painting #art #paint
DAY 475
SPECIES 475 - Oxytoxum scolopax
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek watercolor, Sakura pen

Consistency is hard, often I'm trying to replicate something that worked well in the past and cant pull it off.

#sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky
September 23, 2026 at 7:49 AM
DAY 474
SPECIES 474 - Ceratium hirundinella
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek watercolor, Sakura pen

C. hirundinella is a freshwater dinoflagellate.

#sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #protistsonsky
September 22, 2026 at 7:17 AM
DAY 473
SPECIES 473 - Prorocentrum micans
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek, DS & HWC Watercolor, Sakura pen

P. micans is a single celled armored marine dinoflagellate. It is teardrop or heart shaped with a surface covered in small pores

#sciart #watercolor #paint #protistsonsky
September 21, 2026 at 7:29 AM
DAY 472
SPECIES 472 - Gambierdiscus toxicus
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek & QoR Watercolor, Sakura pen

G. toxicus is a photosynthetic marine dinoflagellate.

#sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky
September 20, 2026 at 7:34 AM
DAY 471
SPECIES 471 - Podolampas palmipes
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek Watercolor, Sakura pen

P. palmipes (web footed lamp) is a single celled armored dinoflagellate with a pear shaped body.

#sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky
September 19, 2026 at 7:42 AM
DAY 470
SPECIES 470 - Torodinium robustum
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek Watercolor

T. robustum is a marine dinoflagellate. They are not found in the fossil record.

#sciart #watercolor #paint #protistsonsky
September 18, 2026 at 7:41 AM
DAY 469
SPECIES 469 - Crypthecodinium cohnii
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek & QoR Watercolor, Sakura pen

C. cohnii is a species of dinoflagellate that has very high levels of the omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid DHA

#sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky
September 17, 2026 at 7:17 AM
DAY 468
SPECIES 468 - Gonyaulax digitale
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek & QoR Watercolor, Tombow pencil

G. digitale is a marine single celled dinoflagellate with a heavy armored outer wall. Its covered in deep pores that give it the look of a thimble

#sciart #paint #protistsonsky
September 16, 2026 at 7:34 AM
DAY 467
SPECIES 467 - Eimeria stiedae
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek Watercolor, Sakura pen

E. stiedae is a single celled protozoan parasite that causes liver infection in rabbits.

#sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky
September 15, 2026 at 7:38 AM
DAY 466
SPECIES 466 - Bulimina marginata
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek Watercolor, Sakura pen

B. marginata "the margined one" has a tapering spiral shell with spiney edges.

#sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky
September 14, 2026 at 7:36 AM
DAY 465
SPECIES 465 - Ammodiscus incertus
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek Watercolor, Sakura pen

A. incertus is a single celled marine protist that looks like a sand grain cinnamon roll.

#sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky
September 13, 2026 at 7:39 AM
DAY 464
SPECIES 464 - Bathysiphon filiformis
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek Watercolor, Sakura pen

B. filiformis is a tubular single celled marine protist.

#sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky
September 12, 2026 at 7:42 AM
DAY 463
SPECIES 463 - Amphisorus hemprichii
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek Watercolor, Sakura pen

A. hemprichii is a large single celled bottom dwelling marine protist. First described by Christian G. Ehrenberg in 1839

#sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky
September 11, 2026 at 7:36 AM
DAY 462
SPECIES 462 - Gromia oviformis
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek Watercolor, Sakura pen

G. oviformis is a large single celled protist that can grow up to 3 millimeters wide making it visible to the naked eye

#sciart #watercolor #paint #protistsonsky
September 10, 2026 at 7:49 AM
DAY 461
SPECIES 461 - Spongosphaera streptacantha
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek Watercolor, Sakura pen

S. streptacantha (twisted spined sponge sphere) is a radiolarian that builds an intricate skeleton of silica

#sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky
September 9, 2026 at 7:48 AM
DAY 460
SPECIES 460 - Cornutella profunda
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek Watercolor, Sakura pen

C. profunda (Deep little horn) is a radiolarian that builds a cone shaped lattice shell and lives deep in the sea at mostly 500-3000m depths

#sciart #watercolor #protistsonsky
September 8, 2026 at 7:39 AM
DAY 459
SPECIES 459 - Vampyrella pendula
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek Watercolor, Sakura pen

Vampyrella pendula is an amoeboid protist that likes to eat filamentous green algae. It drills a hole through the algal cell wall and then slurps out it's innards

#sciart #protistsonsky
September 7, 2026 at 7:18 AM
DAY 458
SPECIES 458 - Angomonas deanei
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek Watercolor, Sakura pen

A. deanei is a protozoan that lives in the gut of insects

#sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky
September 6, 2026 at 7:49 AM
DAY 457
SPECIES 457 - Leishmania mexicana
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek Watercolor, Sakura pen

L. mexicana is a parasitic protozoan that causes skin ulcers known as cutaneous leishmaniasis in Mexico, Central America, and the southern US

#sciart #paint #protistsonsky
September 5, 2026 at 7:47 AM
DAY 456
SPECIES 456 - Euglena gracilis
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek & HWC Watercolor, Sakura pen

E. gracilis is a single celled freshwater euglenid.

#sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky
September 4, 2026 at 8:16 AM
DAY 455
SPECIES 455 - Trichomonas tenax
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek & HWC Watercolor, Sakura pen

T. tenax is a single celled protozoan that mainly lives in the human mouth

#sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky
September 3, 2026 at 7:42 AM
DAY 454
SPECIES 454 - Phytophthora palmivora
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek Watercolor, Sakura pen

P. palmivora is a destructive water mold. Its name "Phytophthora" means plant destroyer.

#sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky
September 2, 2026 at 7:42 AM
DAY 453
SPECIES 453 - Lophomonas blattarum
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek Watercolor, Sakura pen

L. blattarum is a single celled protozoan that lives as a harmless resident in the guts of cockroaches. It has a large tuft of flagella that looks like a brush

#sciart #protistsonsky
September 1, 2026 at 7:44 AM
DAY 452
SPECIES 452 - Synura sphagnicola
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek Watercolor, Sakura pen

Synura sphagnicola is a colonial golden brown alga that's restricted to acidic waters

#sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky
August 31, 2026 at 7:28 AM
DAY 451
SPECIES 451 - Fibrocapsa japonica
STAGE: Protists
MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek, DS & QoR Watercolor, Sakura pen

F. japonica is a golden brown alga that forms harmful blooms in coastal waters worldwide

#sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky
August 30, 2026 at 7:59 AM